Hey everybody. I've been thinking a lot lately about ditching the Gts. Its a very Beautiful car but from everything i read it just makes me very upset. From how slow it is from stock and that even with all mods it still wouldnt be fast. Then there is turbo but again from what i read its not worth it.things like warranty and how you have to spend 10 grand on it-and then people say its front weel drive and it sucks driving a boosted fwd. I was really hoping that i can get decent power with N/A mods but as it seems its useles. and i dont want much power 200 crank or like 180 whp. and to find out that its not possible just makes me very upset. Since i love how the car looks i leaning towards the ralliart but thats kind of out of my budget. so im thinking to trade in for an new GTI. My plan was to put intake , exhaust , pully and the works brain flash and maybe headers on the gts and then everywhere i read people say its not going to make any more then 165-170 whp with all parts available. So what do you guys think? shoud i trade it for somthing faster ot shuld i wait for more parts to come out? sorry for the long post. i would aprecciate any help.

 

the GTI barely makes 170whp... Should have known the lancer wasn't fast when you bought it though. Your going to take a huge hit trading it in. Most dealers aren't giving more than 14K for them. IF* your going to do it, find a dealer that will pay it off (if you owe more). Otherwise sell it outright if you own it. Your going to lose a lot of money either way so take some time to examine what you really want out of it. I traded my lancer in awhile ago for a mazdaspeed 3 and love it. My GTS CVT was barely getting 22mpg in the city, the mazdaspeed gets 30+ with less effort. I miss the bluetooth though, thats about it

 

lol no way a mazdaspeed (turbo) gets 30mpg lol well you would make a believer outta me if I saw it. I dont doubt you, but once you use the word turbo, I picture a whole in the gas tank. hehhe

now I cant wait to get my hands on the new Diesel engine coming in 2 years

problem with the car is the weight, nothing more. its a great setup. but when you look at what a GTS comes with, I think its the best bang for your buck. now I just wish Mitsubishi had told me in 2009 they were gonna put in a 2.4L, or if i waited till the fall I would get traction control. No respect for owners here.

 

actually, 30mpg in a mazdaspeed3 is all too common. Check any mazda forum. Got gas today, went 152 miles before the light came on and I had only put 20 bucks in since the last gas light came on, so at 4.30 a gallon, thats leaving me at roughly 32mpg...and the computer said 31 so it was pretty accurate. Here is my best mpg so far, maybe got on it once or twice but the rest of the time its grandma driving. Suprisingly if I drive it like a raped ape it gets about 20-22mpg. My lowest has been about 18mpg...which is on par with me casually driving the CVT GTS I had around Otherwise lancers are great. I think the 09 is where its at with the 2.4. I miss the bigger interior (mainly backseat, for passengers) and the bluetooth. Even the base lancer stereo has decent base too.

 

If i can make 180whp ill be happy. i realy like the lancer and want to keep it. before i had the lancer i had a 115hp jetta and i thought that 152hp was fast and the car itself looks fast. and also everybody in the begining was talkin about the engine that is the "same" as the evo and so on. a lot of stuff tricked me into it. and i actualy thought that with some upgrades it would be fast. example: intake - 10hp, chip 20, exhaust 5, headers 15. all crank numbers. and those numbers are not even close to what i hear from people. do you guys think ill be able to get 180whp with n/a mods?or around 200 crank?

 

To be honest i sorta feel the same way, but when you actually sit down and think

the lancer engine is pretty much untouched as of yet aside from a few n/a parts here and there...i think once ppl fully pull the engine apart/try random ideas...I think something decent will come out of the lancer...

until then...ill still be saving for a turbo.

 

what are other possible parts that can make power? im not to educated on this stuff.

 

you have to give it time..time is the key..this is a brand new motor no one really knew what to expect as far as mods go for it..

if you look at the previous gen lancers at first that motor had mods that didtn respond so good just like with our cars.

but if you bought one of those lancers today you can get an extra 25+whp than you could when the car first game out

 

I've also been felling the same way about this car, I love the way it looks and feels inside and out. Its so much nicer than any other car in the 20k$ price range in my opinion, its just not the fastest yet. I agree that it is going to take some time for people to figure out how to make this thing run better, and most of the big performance companies are still focusing on the Evo X. Its even worse for us CVT owners because no one is working on them yet, I'd imagine once someone gets into the CVT's computer there could be be some nice results. Such as changing the fixed gear ratios in the shift mode, or altering the software that runs it in D for better performance.
And yeah, I do wish they would've said that the 09 was going to have 168 instead of 152, as well as nicer gauges, traction control, and RAIN SENSING WIPERS!!!

 

+1 for wat evosoul said.
this car isnt fast. it looks good
thats y alot of people buy it...
for all the stuff that comes with the GTS
it really is a good deal. not talking about power though. =P
we're just stupid enough to buy the 1st batch that came out..
basically the beta batch.

 

+1 on the turbo diesel! i would buy that forsure! save so much money!

 

It's worth every penny.
CVT or Manual.
CVT has a purpose and so does the manual.

I am trading in for the R/A.
I do want an EVO but MPG is my concern over performance right now.
Pends on what you want in a car.
With the R/A you get slices from many pies.
I know that Mitsu is working on a manual now for the R/A but I already have a CSRT4 and that is all the manual i need now and that is getting me now 23/30.
The R/A will solve my AWD wants.
That's just me, tho.

 

the car is fast enough... it beats pretty much every other car in its class if you learn how to drive and have the manual. The CVT is slow because of how it works... if you have CVT your pretty much out of luck but then auto has never been the best option for speed. You could easily get 180hp atw with the currently available parts and a few custom bits. With cams and a good tune theres no reason why you couldnt be getting 250+ hp staying n/a and keeping it street drivable. Could probably get upto 280hp with some race cams although it would no longer be street drivable.

You could probably manage these sorts of power levels now if your not afraid of spending some cash and getting custom work done. Plenty of places do custom cams etc. though it will take a bit of trial and error which will cost you. Out of the question for most owners so we just have to wait for stuff to be developed, but in time it will be, there are cams available for all the other model lancers but it just took a bit of time.

If anything i think the biggest problem at the moment is the lack of decent suspension options. Springs are all well and good but you need good quality shocks as well if you want to get a decent handling settup. Some good quality coilovers would be nice... basically im praying that tein or another good brand name comes out with some good quality coilovers as i'd really like to max out the handling. Only good option at the moment is to get some adjustable koni inserts.

 

Ultimately only you can decide if upgrading the car is worth it. Do bolt-ons make massive power? No, those days are gone and with how advanced cars are electronically you're lucky if you make any power with bolt-ons, in a lot of cases you actually lose power because the car thinks it's broken. Tuning is the major factor. A good tune can make all the difference. I doubt you'll get over 200 HP NA without major mods (ie. cams, head work) but you could get a decent daily driver with some extra uumph if you did it properly.

 

i really believe in this car . its just so good looking. everyone that i know keeps talkin about it saying that its a sick vehicle. i dont want to make it super fast as its my dd. i just want some more pulling. i am not going to race the car but i still want it to go. and actually i think that my biggest concern is TQ in the low end. maybe if that was ok i would be satisfied. considering that the car is 152 hp crank i would like to bring it up to 190-200 crank.i know crank is not important so in whp that would be around 170-180whp. thats 30 to 40whp more than it is right now.thats as far as i want to go. so i figured with intake exhaust headers brrainflash and pully i can probably get close to that. probably 25-30whp. but as i keep reading i dont see any numbers anywhere. and makes me think that with all those upgrades i make like 15whp and spend 2 grand wich is kind of sad. the only hopes that i have come from the evo since the engines are pretty much the same exept for some stronger internals on the evo. that brings my hopes up a little that we would make some decent power. with parts from the evo